


Sidekick and Henchman

by wertdifferenz



Series: Sidekick and Henchman [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is the hero, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Keith Acxa and Zethrid are his henchmen, Lance is her sidekick, Lotor is the villain, M/M, but Lance and Keith don't have superpowers, but mostly language, rating Mature mostly for language and some injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 05:01:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12162054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wertdifferenz/pseuds/wertdifferenz
Summary: Got the idea from the instagram account writing.prompt.s and immdiately thought of Klance. I just had to write it, even though it's my first English fanfiction."A superhero's sidekick and supervillain's henchman meet and fall in love at the hospital after their bosses grievously injure each other. Mutually exhausted with their employers' dramatics, they run away to live a totally normal life."This is the before-story.The brunet still could not really believe how he landed here, sitting silently and without fighting (the head nurse made clear that she would kill both of them in they started a ruckus and Lance was truly frightened by the five-foot-two woman, she reminded him of his mum, thank you very much) in a hospital, in front of his antagonist, patiently waiting for any information regarding their bosses.





	Sidekick and Henchman

**Author's Note:**

> Dear people who found their way to these notes. First of all: a big sorry. English is my second language and I haven't seen a school book in 4 years. I don't have a beta reader, so if you see any mistakes (mostly coma's probably) just tell me; I'll try to correct them. Thanks :)
> 
> So a quick guide for this fic:  
> \- Lance's weapon is a rifle which shoots ice bullets and can freeze stuff  
> \- Keith's weapon is sword which can cover itself in flames, the blade gets very hot and can melt metal, but the heat radiates from the blade about 4 inches  
> \- Keith's ear bud is more like an earring which is basically just a matt black stud  
> \- Allura got superstrength, pretty good healing powers and she can fly  
> \- Lotor is smart, rich and a decent fighter, but also pretty cocky. He also got healing powers.
> 
> So I hope you enjoy reading this fic!

01:55

His eyes were fixated on the clock above the big door which separated the waiting room from the restricted area where doctors and nurses did their magic. He was counting every tick, slowly reaching one thousand. Before he started starring at the clock, his eyes where fixed on the potted plant a few feet away from him. He counted every single one of the 235 leaves and engraved the pattern of the plant in his mind. Before that, he memorized every single information about the human immune system a poster on the wall kindly offered.

The clock kept ticking. After reaching one thousand, he suppressed a sigh so he didn’t raise the attention of the other man in the room on him. The whole deal with starring at random objects around him was a miserable try not to stare at the guy sitting on a chair at the opposite wall. 

The dark haired man was sitting hunched in his plastic chair, elbows resting on his knees, hands covering his face. His hair was a mess from running his hands through it numerous times and his right arm was sporting a bandage from a wound Lance has put there a few hours ago. His whole body was tense, but he also seemed really, really tired.

Well, Lance felt the same. He probably didn’t look any better, his shirts and pants had many burned holes and his right calf was wrapped in a cold bandage covering burned skin. He could feel the dirt on his face, his hands where almost black from digging through debris and all he really wanted was a hot shower and a warm and comfy bed. 

Red shifted. Instead of covering his face with his hands, he now supported the weight of his head with one arm, the other resting on his knees. His slim fingers tapped a beat Lance couldn’t really interpret on his cheek and his eyes now starred at the big door isolating them from the commotion inside the surgery. And fuck, Lance just realized that his eyes had left the boring clock and instead decided to wander up and down that pretty figure in front of him. Lance mentally slapped himself. He did not just call the damn enemy pretty. Right, they were enemies. Ok Lance, eyes on something else… the floor!

The brunet still could not really believe how he landed here, sitting silently and without fighting (the head nurse made clear that she would kill both of them in they started a ruckus and Lance was truly frightened by the five-foot-two woman, she reminded him of his mum, thank you very much) in a hospital, in front of his antagonist, patiently waiting for any information regarding their bosses. 

 

***

 

20:05

Allura and Lance were called by the police in the early evening. They informed them that Lotor broke into a restricted part of the harbor and was about to steal some important, secret shit from the NASA. They contacted their back support and were on their way in less than two minutes. Allura just grabbed Lance and flew off to the meeting point with the cops in high speed. After a short briefing with the head officer, Lance got into position on a good, high spot (the top of a container mountain, Allura flew him up) so he could sniper every hazard that wanted to go on his boss from behind. 

Allura flew off, finding Lotor easily (yeah, white hair is easy to spot from the sky, and Lotor was not someone to cover the fuck up for a job, gosh even Lance wasn’t this extra) and engaged a fight with him and one of his generals, Acxa. Lance tried his best to support her from his position but the fight was high paced, like super high paced, and there were only few shots he could take without risking to kill the enemy (the good guys don’t kill, Lance) or hit Allura. Man, Shiro would kill him if he hit Allura. Even with his ice bullets, which did way less harm on a long distance target, Lance hesitated to take a few shots. He was accustomed to Allura’s quick fighting style. He was able to pinpoint almost all of Allura’s next moves. With an emphasis on “almost”. And if he had to choose between getting his ass ripped open by an ex-soldier slash semi-god for hurting the hero, or not pulling the trigger, the decision fell with a loud thump on “don’t pull the fucking trigger”.

The supergirl had a hard time keeping up with the two skilled fighters and Lance let out a relived sigh when he saw Shiro arriving at the scene. But of couse he had no time to relax because he caught a faint noise from behind him. He immediately recognized the high-pitched buzzing sound. Alarmed he quickly rolled to the side and jumped on his feet, took a few steps back and raised his rifle against the figure who dared to surprise him. He shivered slightly at the sight before him. Red stood there, wearing a loose fitting black shirt, dark jeans and biker boots. To complete the outfit, he wore black, fingerless gloves. Lance glance got caught on Red’s fucking fire sword. The blade thrust deep into the metal of the container right where Lance’s leg had been just seconds ago. 

Mentally, he sent a string of curses to Red and another string of praises to his guardian angel because fuck, that was close.

“You missed.” he stated.

“Not quite.” Red huffed. Lance looked down at his leg and cursed again, but this time out loud. His pants sported a big hole and his skin was burned, small blisters already appearing and the wound itself was deep nauseating red, not the kind of red Lance liked in general. And it hurt. A lot. A whole fucking lot. But Lance focus remained on the man in front of him.

Red pulled the blade out of the container as if the metal was warm butter. 

Lance took a few more steps back. His grin faltered slightly because he was quite fucked. He was specialized in long range, not close combat. He preferred his rifle over his handgun and any dogfight weapon. With every step he took back, he could feel the metal of the small gun in his back. Red had probably already seen it when the bastard sneaked up on Lance, because like Lotor with his hair, he did nothing to cover up the weapon. A mistake but hey, he had little time to prepare, literal two minutes before he got dragged into this mess. 

He lifted his rifle and pointed it at Red’s chest. He was nervous with the other man so close. Red knew exactly that the sniper wouldn’t kill him. Couldn’t kill him, hero’s sidekick oath and all this bullshit. Hurt him? Yes, but not kill. Knowing that he bend his knee and jumped forward. Startled by the sudden attack, Lance pulled the trigger, he had to shoot blindly and his target. In less than a second, Red was on him, the blade of his sword near Lance’s neck. The brunet could feel the heat erupting from the blade. Unknowingly he took another step back but his foot landed on nothing but air. His balance tipped back and his heart skipped a beat. In less than a second he went from quite fucked to utterly fucked because he was falling over the edge and behind him was nothing. 50 feet of nothing and then just the hard, cold ground. 

But before Lance could even finish the thought of ‘Shit, I’m gonna fall.’ (you don’t really have mental capacity of thinking anything else in this situation) he came to a stop. His shirt got tight around his collar, Red held him there in a tight grip and prevented him from tilting further over the edge. Lance’s heart missed another couple of beats, it was fucking close from stopping all together right now. His brain really stopped working, only two sentences remaining in the empty space where it used to be:  
‘Thank god, not falling anymore and being held by a hot guy.’ and ‘Shit, hot guy is the fucking enemy and literally holds your life in his hands right now!’

The shocked look Red’s face told him that he was just as surprised of the situation as Lance. But his grip didn’t falter, keeping Lance safe. His rifle didn’t share the lucky fate though; it had slipped his hold and fell down, landing just now with some clatter. 

“RED!”

Both men winced at the sudden scream through the ear stud Red was wearing. With his free hand he touched the matt black metal, activating the intercom.

“Yes, Lotor?”, he responded, Lance could hear the annoyance in his voice and had to suppress a chuckle.

“Change of plans. I need your ass down here, now!” The intercom cracked when the connection got cut.

Red huffed some curses under his breath. He deactivated his sword and took a few steps back, pulling Lance with him. He released his grip on the collar. Lance’s legs were a little wobbly from the near death experience, he hardly managed to stand straight. Red turned around, unbothered by the others presence and started to walk away. Lance grabbed his gun from his back and pointed it at the dark haired man.

“Wait.”, he said with a steady voice. He surprised himself with his faked calmness. 

Red stopped and shot him an amused glace over his shoulder. Even dared to raise an eyebrow. “You already got your shot, we’re even.”

Did Lance just hear right? “Does not count. I missed.”

And Red smiled slightly, making Lance’s heart skip a beat again. He lifted the right sleeve of his shirt, exposing a graze wound and frozen droplets of blood. 

“Not quite.” Red jumped over the edge and disappeared on a stunned Lance.

He can’t clearly remember all the details from the next hour or so. It was a huge mess. Lance reunited with Allura since she got separated from Shiro. They went after Lotor and Red, engaged a second fight and ended up outside the harbor area and admits the city streets. Which was bad, because it was about nine o’clock on a Friday, so the streets were crowded with innocent people. Lotor and Allura somehow managed to destroy a bridge (a fucking bridge guys!) and end up right under it. Lance had to get help from everyone around him to dig Allura out of the masses of concrete and steel. She was hardly breathing by the time he found here. And he lost sight of Lotor and Red, not that it mattered right now but he would have to do for a lot of explanation when this was over, man. Lance rushed Allura to the nearest hospital where she was brought immediately into surgery.

 

***

 

21:28

After his leg got some treatment Lance was placed in the waiting room in front of the surgery. He contacted the team and informed them about Allura’s condition and how they got there. They ordered him to stay at the hospital at her side since they still had to clean up at the harbor and bridge. Well, this could take some time.

After sitting impatiently for about 30 minutes (since pacing was a bad idea right now), the head nurse entered the room with bandages in her hand. Lance was about to ask her about Allura again but his words got stuck in his throat when he saw the person walking behind her. He immediately got up and fell into a defensive fight stance, cursing his leg which started to throb because of the sudden movement. 

The same sudden movement caught Red’s attention and his eyes widened slightly before his gaze fell at Lance’s bandaged leg and finally on the floor, where it remained. No fighting stance, no death glare, no snappy comment. His head hang low, shoulders hunched up; he looked like a kicked puppy. He looked vulnerable and even kind of cute. ‘Dammit Lance, stop thinking like this.’

The head nurse looked between the two men and cleared her throat. “Listen,” she said with a low, stern voice, “I know where you two come from. But this is a god damn hospital and if you even think of starting a fight or any disturbance to the people in here, I’m going to grab both of your asses and drown them in a puddle of your own blood. Did I make myself clear?”

Lance gulped. He saw Red take a cautious step away from the woman.

“I said, DID I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?”

“Y-yes, ma’am.” They stuttered simultaneous.

She smiled, pleased with their answer. She sat herself and Red down on some chairs on the opposite wall, treated his frostbitten graze wound and left them to their own misery. 

Almost four hours later and either had to move from their spot yet. Lance was seriously getting bored. Every now and then a doctor or a nurse passed the room but neither tried to get any information from them after the first hour or so. They always got the same few responses: “They are still in surgery.” and “We will give you new information as soon as possible.” 

It was truly frustrating, but there was literally nothing Lance could do. He lifted his gaze from the floor to the other man. Lance could now properly see Red’s face. He looked like Lance felt, tired, dirty and most of all bored. But also pretty gorgeous. ‘Damn it, Lance. Stop that.’

His gaze flickered to the bandage that popped up under Red’s shirt. Suddenly he felt kind of bad. He was on the good side, he was supposed to help people, not hurt them. Even the bad (but hot) guys. You know, convince them to join the good side, ‘we have cookies and hymn of praises’ and all this shit. He took a deep breath and looked the other man in the face again.

“I’m sorry.” he said after gathering all his courage to break the silence.

Red didn’t move, but his eyes where now on Lance. “About what?”

“About hurting you.”

Red snorted. “I hurt you first.”

“So that makes us even?”

“I said that before, didn’t I?”

Lance thought back. Red was right, he had said it. They both fought, they both got hurt; they were even. But still… 

“I still feel bad about hurting you.”

“Why? Because you’re on the hero’s side?”

“I just don’t like hurting people.”

“Then you certainly choose the wrong job.”

“Yeah…” Lance smiled sadly. His gaze fell on his hands and silence enveloped them again. But the brunet had enough of it. He hated this uncomfortable quietness in the room. You could hear some commotion in the surgery and a person tapping on a computer near them. But Lance wanted to hear voices, especially the husky voice of the man in front of him. He wanted to talk, to engage and to hear the other’s thoughts. So he started something he was particular good at: he babbled.

“You know…” he hesitated for a second, but when the other didn’t shut him up, he continued, “… sometimes I’m just really tired of this whole thing.” He looked up again. Red’s attention was still on him, but he didn’t respond. ‘Well, more room for me to talk, I guess.’

“Sometimes I don’t care about all that bad stuff happening around me. Sometimes I don’t want to worry my family because of my job. Sometimes I just wanna wake up in the morning, cuddle with a person who I love all day long and not think about whether I will still be alive tomorrow.” He let out a deep sigh. 

Red’s gaze drifted away. Lance felt discouraged at the shift. He felt alone, despite sitting in a building full of people. The reason was sitting in front of him. He looked at the floor again and scolded himself in his mind for his emotional outburst. He should be thankful the other hadn’t killed him yet for his stupid monologue.

Some time passed. Lance concentrated on the ticking of the clock again. More people rushed by the room, but no one intruded the awkward atmosphere. Some nurses entered the surgery, some came out. The tapping on the computer stopped, an office chair rolled over the floor, some papers where rustled. Lance got lost in his own thoughts.

“Me, too.” 

He almost missed the faint voice from across the small room. His head snapped up. Red was still not looking at him, but Lance could see him blush slightly. He almost rubbed his eyes to get the illusion of the blushing dark haired man out of his eyes, but stopped himself. He’d rather safe the image in his mind.

The lack of response got Red to look at him. Their eyes met, but Red interpreted the others silence as judging. 

“What?” he shifted in his seat. “Just because I’m the bad guy doesn’t mean I’m not pissed and tired of this whole shit. Sometimes I wanna stay in bed the whole day and not think about the shit I have to tomorrow. Sometimes I’d like to not be the bad guy.”  
Lance could not avert his eyes from the other. His jaw dropped at the confession and you could literally hear his brain rattle in need for a response. 

“Yeah.” Wow, Lance, how eloquent. But then a question popped into his mind. “Why don’t you just stop?”. 

It was out there before Lance could stop himself.

“Uh… what?” Not it was Red’s turn for eloquent lines. 

“Well, you know… Just stop. Go away. Start a new life?”

Red’s eyes widened. “I-I don’t know… I-“ He looked down, around the floor as if somehow the cheap linoleum hid the answer. Only when he met Lance’s eyes again, he spoke up. “Why don’t you stop?”

“I don’t know. It just never crossed my mind before today. I guess I stayed for the money.”

Red huffed. “Not for the glorious life of being a hero?”

Lance’s eyes turned dark. “Yeah, the army got rid of that illusion in like the first week. My family just really needed the money and that’s why I stuck around.”

A doctor came out of the surgery, hurried down the aisle, almost tackling a nurse to the ground who thankfully dodged the man in the last moment. He stuttered an apology but didn’t stop his fast pace into the next corridor, away from Lance’s eyes and attention. His eyes kept on the corner where the doctor had disappeared.

“Do they still need it?”

“What?” His attention snapped back to his dark haired colloquist.

“The money. Do they still need it?”

Lance thought about it. His mum had told him some time ago that they had enough now, that he didn’t have to put his life on the line for the sake of his family anymore. That he could come home, see his siblings again. That he missed enough birthdays and holidays already. That she would love to see him life his life for himself, not for someone else.

“They don’t.” he answered honestly.

“Then just stop. Run away. Start a new life.” Lance cringed at hearing his own words being used against him. “What holds you back?”

“I guess I don’t want to go alone?” Lance wasn’t sure himself. Leaving the family was hard, but he had built a life here. Throwing everything away and starting from the bottom again was not something he’d like to do all by himself.

“Maybe you don’t have to go alone…” Red averted his gaze and a slight blush appeared on his cheeks, his bang hid his eyes. He looked almost shy.

“What do you me-“

“Family of…” a doctor in scrubs covered in blood interrupted them. “Well… family of the hero and the villain I guess?”

 

***

 

02:50

They both stood up and faced the man. 

“They are alive for now, but still unconscious. Since they’re both not entirely human, I think they should be good to leave by themselves in about eight or nine hours, if they wake up by then. We had some serious problems operating them, the wounds started to close before we could get the debris out so we had to reopen them a hell lot of times. Maybe the skin will scar, maybe not. Most importantly, they’ll survive.” Lance let out a relieved sigh. He would have to face hell if Allura had died under his watch. From the side he could see Red relax slightly. He guessed they would have shared the same fate.

“Those were the good news. The bad news is that I have to call the police now.”

“Fuck.” Red turned away. He touched his ear, fingers wandering over the stud; an unsuspicious motion if you hadn’t had the information Lance had. The brunet knew immediately that he contacted his partners. “When will the police arrive?”

“In about 15 minutes, maybe less considering the individual.” The oblivious doctor answered. 

“Fifteen minutes…” Red muttered to himself and at least one other person. “Can I see him now?”

“No, he is in the recovery room, but separated from the other patients. He needs to rest right now.”

“The recovery room, riiiight…”

Lance raised an eyebrow at the secret interaction. He didn’t stop it though. Red was probably planning to break out his boss and right now and Lance was just too tired to give any fuck. Not like he had any chance to stop him. His rifle was back at the harbor and he had lost his gun somewhere under a huge pile of concrete and steel that used to be a bridge. He still had a small dagger hidden at his thigh, but Red would probably disarm (and kill) him before he could even blink. 

To his surprise, Red simply thanked the doctor and turned towards the exit. Lance didn’t want to let him go, but not because of his sidekick job… He thanked the doc too and told him he would contact Allura’s family so she wouldn’t be alone when she woke up. The doctor nodded and left again for the surgery. Lance hurried outside, ignoring the glances he got from the head nurse. He caught Red leaning against the wall next to the hospital entrance. He seemed to be waiting… for something.

“You’re not gonna stay?” Lance asked. “They might need your help busting him out of here.”

Red just shrugged. “They told me to go, so I’ll do that.”

He started to walk towards the parking lot. Lance followed him. They walked in silence; the brunet couldn’t find the right words to get back to their previous conversation. He wanted to ask so badly what the other meant. Red got his fucking hope up; at least he owed him an answer. 

“So… I guess you’re not gonna stop?” 

“And run away? Start a new life?”

Lance cringed again. He felt stupid. This was stupid. Talking about his feelings at three a.m. in the morning, with no other than the guy who’s supposed to be his enemy, his antagonist; not his fucking crush. He shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t do this. He shouldn’t follow Red and get his hopes up.

But here he was.

Following the other like a puppy, eyes stuck to the ground, asking stupid questions; and about to shoot another one.

“What holds you back?”

They stopped in front of a motorcycle. In the back of his mind Lance asked himself how the vehicle got here. Did Red drive it with and unconscious and dying Lotor in his arms or did one of his partners parked it here for him. But he immediately forgot the question when Red fished some keys from his pocket. “I guess I just don’t want to go alone.”

Lance eyes shot up, meeting the other’s. Red turned away as he mounted the bike and grabbed the helmet that hung on the handlebar. But instead of putting it on, he just starred at it. He finally looked back at Lance, stretched out his arm and offered the helmet to him.

“Come with me?”

 

***

 

03:05

Well, you didn’t have to ask Lance twice. He was surprised by the question but didn’t hesitate a second to accept the helmet. He put it on and seated himself while the other started the engine. 

They left the parking lot seconds before the police showed up. Explosions could be heard from the distance, but the sound was drowned by the roaring of the engine. Lance held tight onto Red while they drove through the city, away from the hospital, away from their old lives. 

Red drove them to a hill outside the city. He parked the bike on a small gravel spot right next to the street. A beautiful view over the dark houses and illuminated streetlights greeted them there. Lance looked at him, unspoken questions on his tongue. To answer him, Red simply removed the ear stud and tapped it once. 

“Zethrid?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I quit.”

“Wait, what? FUCK YOU, RED! You little pie-“

Lance couldn’t hear more because Red dropped the stud on the ground and smashed it with his boot. He looked at Lance expectantly. The brunet laughed quietly and took out his phone without any protest. 

“Gotta write my mum first.” He explained while tipping out a few short lines. Nothing more than ‘Don’t worry, I’m safe’ and ‘I love you’ with a few greetings to his siblings and relatives. After sending the message, he opened the contacts and searched another number, but paused right after he found it. He was not sure what to tell his partners. He looked at the other man and smiled when the right words came to his mind. He wrote another message and tilted his phone to show it to Red, who read it and smirked. With a nod he signaled his agreement. Lance sent the text before he threw the phone away with all his strength. It vanished into the night. 

“Ready to go?” Red asked. 

“Not yet. I have to do one last thing.”

Red raised an eyebrow curiously. “What is it?”

Lance smiled sheepish at the other man and held out his hand. “The name’s Lance.”

Red laughed at that. “Wow, and here I thought I’ll call you ‘Blue’ for the rest of my life.”

“What? Why did you call me ‘Blue’?”

“Your rifle shoots ice and you literally wore something blue every time we met.”

“I can’t even complain at that. I simply called you ‘Red’ because of your fire sword. Only realized that everyone calls you that a good few weeks later.”

They both laughed. The black haired man finally took Lance’s hand.

“I’m Keith.” He said with a shy (and very cute) smirk. Lance heart skipped a beat again. To hide his blush, he put the helmet on and climbed on the motorcycle where Red had already taken seat. 

“Well, Keith, where do you plan to take me?”

Keith started the engine. In order to hear his answer, Lance scooped a little closer, pressing his chest against Keith’s back.

“Where ever the road takes us.”

“Fucking sap!” He giggled. As they started driving, Lance wrapped his arms around him tightly and rested his head on Keith’s shoulder. He breathed in the scent of gasoline and asphalt, but also a faint hint of cinnamon and pine trees. “I guess I’ll just follow you.” He whispered softly into the others ear. 

Keith smiled and leaned his head against the other’s. 

The city soon vanished behind them. They didn’t look back. As the stars started to fade and the sun peeked up from the horizon, both men sighed satisfied. What a beautiful day to start a new life.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to end this fic with a really cheesy scene but I couldn't think of anything better. 
> 
> So, how did you like it? Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts and constructive criticism. Thank you so much for reading! It means a lot!
> 
> Last but not least, here are some unnecessary information:
> 
> \- I have no idea what Lance's message on his phone said, I imagine it just said "I quit, love y'all"  
> \- I had to google if pine trees smell good. Google says yes.  
> \- I had to google the word "ear lobe" in my language so I could translate it to English. Because I couldn't remember the word, I googled "anatomy of an ear from the outside" and it was a little bit disturbing  
> \- Keith and Lance will live the rest of their lives in domestic fluff in this fic. You can't fight me on that!


End file.
